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Lancaster, err Wellington wreck

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Lancaster, err Wellington wreck

28th September 2009, 12:39

Good afternoon,

My compliments, this website is incredibly rich, it takes hours to visit the main topics!

I am a 26 years old researcher from Northern Italy. I am currently trying to discover and to show the history of a plane wreck I found this summer, at more than 2900 meters on the Western Alps.
Here you may find the photos and datas I already posted,

You have to know that this crash site is covered by snow for at least 11 months per year, so it is quite difficult to look for other parts; I will come up there next spring, I hope.
According to archives, this should be the wreck of Lancaster LM339. It crashed up there after striking Milano, during August, 1943. I would like to identify it for sure.

Here, in the end, the list of the five inscriptions I found on the parts:

Comment

It would appear that a Wellington DID crash there....or else someone decided to dump a whole load of Wellington wreckage on a mountain!

Unless I am mistaken (and I am only a lightweight,here) that is one of the "fishplate" joints that secured the cross-over sections of the geodetic structure. There were hundreds of them on a Wellington.

PS.....:

Ooooops....just noticed the previous post from Hampden Project which I have just reiterated. Thats what becomes of being a lightweight, here.

Junk Collector found some bits of Wellington recently and posted an image, I think, of a complete one of these fishplates?

Actually.....now I look at it again I am not so sure about the Wellington theory. Strange that two of us thought the same, though. Its just that the bits attached to this fishplate don't look too much like any of the geodetic structure?

Last edited by Tangmere1940; 28th September 2009, 15:59.
Reason: Update!

Editor: 'Britain at War' Magazine

A 'Key Publishing' product - Britain's Best Selling Military History Monthly

Comment

I am not an expert in British bombers.. But I would like to ask if there are many differences from a Lancaster joint and a Wellington one.
Because, according to RAF and other historians, up there it crashed a Lancaster MK III..

Comment

Here are two pictures of what I believe must be the "fish plate" joints of the cross over sections. The picture is of the wreckage of Wellington R1646 at Glen Clunie, Scotland.
Hope this may help.
regards Kjell

Comment

The website you mentioned in your previous post probably only covers RAF Bomber Command losses which took off from Britain. Most of the information on that website has been taken (and not acknowledged) from the excellent volumes of books RAF Bomber Command Losses by W R Chorley.

There is a similar reference book that deals with RAF Bomber losses in the Middle East & Mediterranean by David Gunby and Pelham Temple. So far only Volume one has been published which I believe covers losses to the end of 1942.

Maybe someone knows more about the ME & Med volumes than I do as I don't have copies of them.

Kind Regards
archieraf aka Linzee

Comment

Marco. I think what those helping are trying to say is that each aircraft type was given a specific number with which to prefix part numbers. In this case, the prefix for a Wellington is 285. For a Halifax for instance, I think the prefix is 57.

As to the Lost Bombers website I believe Linzee is correct in saying that only Bomber Command aircraft are covered. But by August of 1943 wouldn't Wellintons of Bomber Command have been superceded by Lancasters and Halifaxes on such long missions? The evidence points to this particular aircraft being a Wellington of the Middle East and Italian based Squadrons.

Wellingtons were flown by 37, 40, 70 and 104 Squadrons in the Middle East and Italy.

Is it possible that there are two crash sites which have become confused?

Comment

At least six Wellingtons from 205 group were lost on supply dropping sorties to the resistance groups in Northern Italy during November 1944.Im sorry but I dont know any other details other that none were lost from 40 Squadron.